EXCITING EXPERIENCES ON THE FRONTIER AND ON THE TRAIL, Page #0158

Besides making trips over the "Trail" to Kansas, I often made trips to the coast.

Years ago there were no trains we could ship our cattle on as nowadays. Whenever
we wanted to take cattle to the seaport we had to drive them. We usually drove
them in herds of about two hundred head.

In the spring of the year we usually began rounding up our cattle, as the beef
buyers usually came in the early fall. Our captain would give us orders for the
trip, then we would start out, each man with his pack-horse and two saddle
horses.

There were large stock pens scattered over the country. We would each go in
different directions and all meet at one of the pens. At night when we went into
camp we would hobble our tamest horses with buckskin hobbles and staked the
wilder ones. We hung our "grub" up in a tree so nothing could bother it.

"After we had all the cattle together we would start for home. "As we came near
to each man's house he would cut his cattle out of the herd.

Then came the beef buyer. "After he bought as many as he wanted he would get
ready for the drive to the seaport. I helped him out many times just to take the
trip.

We would often lose cattle on these trips, for they would stampede and, of
course, we seldom found those that got lost. At one of our camping places an
Irishman had built a pen on rollers. When the cattle stampeded in that pen there
was no danger of losing any. When they would run the pen went right with them.
It was often carried as far as fifty yards.

In the year 1874 I had another very thrilling experience. On account of such a
dry year my father decided to move to a different location. He did not know
where to go, so he gave me the job of hunting a suitable place.

In August of that year I started out with two saddle horses and one pack horse. I
went in a northwestern